Obama Is Way Down In Fundraising In Crucial Neighborhoods Of New York City [CHARTS]

Obama is in New York City today, fundraising in one of the most reliably pro-Obama regions in the entire country. The top five zip codes in the the entire state of New York — congregated in Midtown Manhattan, the Upper East Side and the Upper West side — can be expected to roll out in droves for the President today.

While that may seem like Obama is underperforming — and he totally is — keep in mind that probably around half of that 2008 money was spent in the Democratic primary race against Hillary Clinton, who still beat John McCain in New York City money when she raised and spent $22 million.

Still, Obama is really doing badly in the City. One major reason for this is that the top employment for New York donors is Securities and Investment, an industry still rather sore after the first four years of Obama.

While Midtown has kept on donating on pace, the Upper East Side is way down in political contributions this round.

This part of Manhattan is reliably Democratic, and if they’re not contributing to Obama it is very bad news for his re-election fund.

These tiny zip codes contribute one to three hundred times as much money as the national average, and if they’re sitting this one out then the President is in significant trouble.

One of the most interesting things we found this round was how involved New York became with Super PACs:

Photo: Walter Hickey/BI, Data from centre for Responsive Politics

This is the breakdown for total contributions from the island of Manhattan this election so far. Democrats get almost double what Republicans do, but the most interesting chunk is Independent, unaffiliated PAC money.

In 2008, this chunk amounted to around eight per cent of the total contributions. The simplest explanation for the huge jump is that new SuperPACs — which are legally unaffiliated with parties or campaigns — have been making a fortune off of the island.

Either way, It’s good for his campaign that the President is swinging by New York today. He desperately needs the money.